ye tu dharmāmṛtam idaṁ yathoktaṁ paryupāsate |
śraddadhānā mat-paramā bhaktās te’tīva me priyāḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 12.20)
“But those bhaktas who take shelter in this dharma—[this] nectar—as [thus] described [by me], being endowed with faith (śraddhā) and devoted to me, are exceedingly dear to me.”
samaḥ śatrau ca mitre ca tathā mānāpamānayoḥ |
śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkheṣu samaḥ saṅga-vivarjitaḥ ||
tulya-nindā-stutir maunī santuṣṭo yena kenacit |
aniketaḥ sthira-matir bhaktimān me priyo naraḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 12.18–19)
“A person possessed of bhakti [who is] equal towards an enemy and a friend and honor and dishonor, equal towards cold and heat, happiness and suffering, free from attachment, equal towards defamation and praise, silent, satisfied with whatever comes, non-attached to house, and of steady mind is dear to me.”
yasmān nodvijate loko lokān nodvijate ca yaḥ |
harṣāmarṣa-bhayodvegair mukto yaḥ sa ca me priyaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 12.15)
“One because of whom any person is not disturbed, who is not disturbed because of any person, and who is free from elation, jealousy, fear, and anxiety is dear to me.”
adveṣṭā sarva-bhūtānāṁ maitraḥ karuṇa eva ca |
nirmamo nirahaṅkāraḥ sama-duḥkha-sukhaḥ kṣamī ||
santuṣṭaḥ satataṁ yogī yatātmā dṛḍha-niścayaḥ |
mayy arpita-mano-buddhir yo mad-bhaktaḥ sa me priyaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 12.13–14)
“My bhakta—one who is non-inimical, friendly, and indeed compassionate towards all beings, free from possessiveness, free from egotism, equal towards suffering and happiness, forbearing, ever satisfied, a yogī, self-restrained, of firm conviction, and of mind and intellect offered to me—is dear to me.”
na kartṛtvaṁ na karmāṇi lokasya sṛjati prabhuḥ |
na karma-phala-saṁyogaṁ svabhāvas tu pravartate ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 5.14)
“The Lord creates neither the doership, nor the actions, nor the connection with the results of actions of a person. Rather, the disposition (svabhāva) [of a person] prompts [these].”
antar deheṣu bhūtānām ātmāste harir īśvaraḥ |
sarvaṁ tad-dhiṣṇyam īkṣadhvam evaṁ vas toṣito hy asau ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 6.4.13)
“The Self, Hari, Īśvara, is present inside the bodies of [all] living beings. [Therefore,] See everything as an abode of his. In this way, he will certainly be pleased with you all.”
tathā na te mādhava tāvakāḥ kvacid
bhraśyanti mārgāt tvayi baddha-sauhṛdāḥ |
tvayābhiguptā vicaranti nirbhayā
vināyakānīkapa-mūrdhasu prabho ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.2.33; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.201; Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā on Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.7.14; Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 2.4.46; Paramātma Sandarbha: 17; Bhakti Sandarbha: 121; Prīti Sandarbha: 7)
“O Mādhava, those who are your own, who are bound to you by cordiality, never fall down from the path in that way. Protected by you on all sides and [thus] fearless, O Prabhu, they roam atop the heads of those who proffer protection from arrays of impediments.”
dharmaḥ satya-dayopeto vidyā vā tapasānvitā |
mad-bhaktyāpetam ātmānaṁ na samyak prapunāti hi ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 11.14.22; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.557; Bhakti Sandarbha: 79, 111, 147)
“Devoid of bhakti to me, dharma endowed with truthfulness and compassion, or knowledge accompanied by austerity, certainly do not fully purify the mind.”
śreyaḥ-sṛtiṁ bhaktim udasya te vibho
kliśyanti ye kevala-bodha-labdhaye |
teṣām asau kleśala eva śiṣyate
nānyad yathā sthūla-tuṣāvaghātinām ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.14.4; cited in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 11.608; Bhagavat Sandarbha: 95; Bhakti Sandarbha: 5, 67, 71, 105, 176; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.22, 2.24.170, 2.25.31)
“O Lord, for those who abandon [the path of] bhakti to you, that from which there is a flow of auspiciousnesses [alt., that which is the path to auspiciousness], and struggle to attain awareness of oneness, only this hardship remains and nothing else, as is the case for those who thresh thick chaff.”
ye’nye’ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas
tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ |
āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ
patanty adho’nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.2.42; cited in Dig-darśinī-ṭīkā on Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.7.14; Bhakti Sandarbha: 111, 121; Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.22.30, 2.24.131, 141, 2.25.32)
“[The devas address Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the womb of Mother Devakī:] O Lotus-eyed One, others, who consider themselves fully liberated yet are of not fully purified intellect because of having forsaken bhāva for you, ascend with hardship to the highest position but fall down from there because of their having disregarded your feet.”
